I have a one way ticket from the US to Japan on Feb 17th but I don’t have a spouse visa or coe yet. My husband spoke to the embassy a couple of months ago and got all of the paperwork in Japanese but he procrastinated and never filled it out.
I’m not sure what to do now. Should I just apply for the visa or do the coe first? And will I be able to go to Japan with just a one way ticket without a visa ? I’m very lost and have been really stressed out because the trip is so soon and it’s a non refundable ticket . I read that it can take a while to get a visa without the coe. Is this true ? Has anyone experienced this before ?
4 comments
>And will I be able to go to Japan with just a one way ticket without a visa ?
Chances are they won’t even let you board the plane.
The airline won’t let you board without a return ticket if you don’t have a visa ready.
You need to get a CoE to get a visa from out of country, if you enter Japan, they might (or might not) allow you to do a Tourist -> Spouse visa switch.
But keep in mind that it’s not their favored way of doing things and under most circumstances, outright reject this way of doing things. Spouse is the only exception but they’re still not a fan of it and might, though unlikely, deny you.
I can think of two pathways that you can take.
Eat the loss of the non-refundable ticket and wait for all the paperwork to actually be done and ready to go.
OR
Buy a return ticket, fly in as a tourist and attempt to switch to a spouse visa in the country and eat the loss of the return ticket (or try to get it to be refundable).
One more option: you shouldn’t need to show a return ticket back to your departure location, merely a ticket back out of Japan again. So buy the cheapest possible ticket to a nearby destination which is merely out of the country (Korea, Taiwan, wherever…). Great if you can get it refundable, but you’ll burn minimal money in worst case scenario.
You might even be able to show advance booking on an alternative mode of transportation. Check the prices on the overnight ferry from Osaka, or the Hydrofoil from Fukuoka, both going over to Pusan. I think the agent checking you in (if they bother to validate at all) will be mostly concerned that you can show an exit strategy and are not just interested in overstaying your visa.
I just went through a similar scenario. Just get an onward ticket out of Japan before your departure that leaves <90 days. I just used miles for a flight to Vietnam and was easy to cancel and refund. After your arrival, go to immigration to apply for a visa change starting with the CoE. You will probably have to explain why you didn’t have the CoE first so bring someone who speaks Japanese and hope that you get a nice immigration agent. It took me a little over a month which is good, but I wouldn’t wait too long.